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Thu, 04 Nov 2021
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning kills 3 in Bangladesh

lightning
Three people, including a local Jubo League leader, were killed in separate incidents of lightning strike during storm in Sadar and Lakhai upazilas in Habiganj this afternoon.

The deceased were identified as Ramjan Ali, 35, a resident of Paschim Bolla union in Lakhali upazila and also Jubo League president of the union, Shafiqul, 40, of Badirkara village of the same upazila and Abid Ali, 22, of Kashiar Abla village of Sadar upazila.

Sadar upazila health complex sources said a thunderbolt struck the trio while they were working in fields in their respective villages around 2:00pm, leaving them seriously injured.

Later, they were rushed to the hospital where doctors declared them dead.

Tornado1

Tornado kills 4, injures hundreds in southwestern Uruguay

Tornado damage in Uruguay April 2016
© Twitter

Comment: This was the first deadly tornado in Uruguay in 30 years.


A tornado ripped through the southwestern city of Dolores in Uruguay, killing four people and leaving hundreds injured, government officials said. More than 200 people suffered injuries and about 400 structures have been affected, said Uruguayan Sen. Guillermo Besozzi. Images from the city showed overturned cars piled on top of one other, shattered windows and decimated buildings.


The tornado hit the city around 4 p.m. local time Friday. The National Institute of Meteorology has yet to determine the scale of the tornado."There are businesses in the center of the city, completely destroyed. Schools, churches destroyed. This is something never seen before. This is something out of the normal for our country," Besozzi said.

Mariela Umpiérrez, a resident of Dolores, told CNN en Español that her house, office car and those of her relatives were damaged. "The images seems taken out of a movie, but not from reality," she said. The Uruguay government pledged to send emergency help to the affected areas. There have been some looting in the area, but the government has sent officers to address it, Besozzi said.


Question

Cause of house explosion in El Reno, Oklahoma remains a mystery

El Reno house explosion
© kfor.com

Investigators are still trying to figure out what caused a house explosion in El Reno Wednesday afternoon.

Shortly before 4 p.m. on Wednesday, authorities were called to a home at 1120 S. Hadden in El Reno after a possible explosion.

Residents three blocks away reported hearing their windows rattle and feeling their floors shake.

El Reno officials confirm one person was injured and taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

She remains in critical condition, according to El Reno fire officials.

Investigators still haven't been able to determine what caused the explosion.

Fire officials said they haven't found any explosives, and ONG claimed there's no evidence of a natural gas leak.

On Thursday, caution tape blocked off the damage site, not far from Hillcrest Park.

Neighbors are still shaken about the unexpected event.

"All the sudden, we just felt this vibration, this big explosion, and we didn't know what it was," said Danny Rundell.


Cloud Precipitation

Several killed as heavy floods hit Iran

Deadly floods in Iran April 2016
© Youtube/PressTV News Videos
The floods have washed away cars and blocked roads. Iranian railway authority has canceled all trains scheduled for Friday to and from the southern parts of the country. Iran's Red Crescent says 126 cities have been affected by the floods. In Khuzestan, nearly 21-hundred people have been evacuated to safer areas. Several people have been injured in the southern province while some three-hundred homes are under water in Lorestan. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has ordered authorities to mobilize all resources available to provide relief assistance to the flood-stricken people.


Bizarro Earth

Mount Aso volcano erupts after deadly earthquakes in Japan

Mount Aso
© Associated Press
After a series of deadly earthquakes in Japan, a "small-scale" eruption of Mount Aso has been recorded by the Japan Meteorological Agency. However, it decided to keep the alert level at 2, as it was not immediately clear whether the natural disasters were related.

Plumes of smoke rose some 100 meters into the sky, according to local media and videos captured by witnesses. The eruption of Mt. Aso, located in southern Japan, was recorded at around 11:30pm GMT Friday.


Megaphone

The cicadas are coming! New brood will descend on the northeastern US

cicada
© Kevin Ambrose
Cicadas
The eighth biblical plague that tortured Egypt was a plague of locusts.

As described in Exodus 10:5, "And they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field."

Flip the aforementioned "they" from locusts to cicadas, and that's actually a pretty apt description of what residents in some parts of Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia will experience next month when the soil warms to 64 degrees and billions of cicadas rise from the ground to mate. Fortunately, cicadas can't chew so they don't devour our plants and trees. If they manage to avoid predators long enough they suck up plant sap but not enough to any real damage.

Arrow Down

75-foot by 45-foot crater swallows high school basketball court in Huntington Park, California

Huntington Park crater
© Via Facebook/Fox11
The crater measures about 75 feet by 45 feet. Regardless, class remained in session Tuesday at Linda Esperanza Marquez High School in Huntington Park, California.

The school, which opened in 2013, is built on the rubble of "a former toxic concrete mountain" known as "La Montaña."

But according to officials, there is no known correlation between the current crater and the ground beneath the school.
Huntington Park crater
© Via Facebook/Fox11
Sinkhole or man-made?

News channels describe the collapse in the concrete as a sinkhole. In contrast school officials argue the crater is the result of an underground water retention and recharge system built during the school's construction in 2012.


Moon

Enormous halo seen around the moon in Horsham, Australia

Moon halo
© Lynton Brown
Lynton Brown caught this 22-degree lunar halo this week and posted it to EarthSky Facebook. We see many, many photos of this type of halo - both around the sun and moon - which happen all over the world due to the presence of ice crystals in high cirrus clouds. Les Cowley of the website Atmospheric Optics wrote:
... 22-degree radius halos are visible all over the world and throughout the year. Look out for them (eye care!) whenever the sky is wisped or hazed with thin cirrus clouds. These clouds are cold and contain ice crystals in even the hottest climes.

The halo is large. Stretch out the fingers of your hand at arms length. The tips of the thumb and little finger then subtend roughly 20 degrees. Place your thumb over the the sun [or moon] and the halo will be near the little finger tip.

Alarm Clock

New powerful 7.1 magnitude earthquake strikes near Japan's Kumamoto, tsunami warnings issued

7.1 magnitude Japan quake map
© earthquake.usgs.gov
A magnitude-7.1 earthquake has hit Japan near the city of Kumamoto on the island of Kyushu, the Japan Meteorological Agency reported. Tsunami warnings have been issued.

The epicenter of the quake in southern Japan was located at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers, near the area where a 6.5 earthquake struck on Thursday.

According to the US Geological Survey, the quake had a magnitude of 7.0 and its epicenter was located just 1 km southwest of the city of Kumamoto.

An aftershock of 5.8 magnitude has also been reported in the area.

"Tsunami warnings or advisories are currently in effect," Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The tsunami advisory has been issued for the Ariake and Yatsushiro Seas.

The advisory warns of a possible wave of one meter in height, Japan's NHK broadcaster said.


Comment: See also:


Cloud Lightning

Lightning strikes kill two in Taplejung, Nepal

lightning
Two people were killed and two others injured in separate lightning incidents here in the district.

According to DSP Ram Bahadur KC, district police chief, the deceased have been identified as Bishnu Kumari Rajbhandari, 65, of Phungling Bhintuna of the district. She felt unconscious and consequently died after the lightning struck her when she was working in the kitchen.

Likewise, Ambika BK, 22, of Taplejung Municipality-3 succumbed to death as she suffered full burn on her body when lightning struck her on March 28. She breathed her last while being treated at BP Koirala Health Science Academy Dharan.

Similarly, two people have been seriously injured here in Phurumbu VDC of the district in a lightning incident. The injured are Shukrabir Bhattarai, 50 and his wife whose name is yet to be ascertained. Both are undergoing treatment at District Hospital.